Documenting Australia's rich Aboriginal and European history.

North Parramatta : Female Factory

The Parramatta Female Factory, in the grounds of Cumberland Hospital. Functionally a combination of a prison and a workhouse.

Originally sited in what is now known as Prince Alfred Park (formerly 'Gaol Green' or 'Hanging Green'), it was later relocated to a 4-acre slice of William Bligh's grant. The various buildings were largely designed by architect Francis Greenway, constructed 1818-1821.

It operated up until the end of convict transportation to the colony, and in 1848 was reassigned as a Convict Lunatic and Invalid Asylum.

NB : The reason it is called a factory is because it manufactured cloth - linen, wool and linsey woolsey. The factory was also the site of the colony's first manufactured export, producing 60,000 yards (55,000m) of woven cloth in 1822.